Safeguarding and Safety

Young people or their parents/carers can make a report to the police in the UK about inappropriate sexual contact online such as ‘grooming’. See the CLICK CEOP button below.

Safeguarding in the Scouts

Adult volunteers who participate in regulated activity require a disclosure check. The Scout Association has reviewed all volunteer roles against the criteria for regulated activity which is defined as:

Teaching, training or instruction of children, carried out by the same person frequently (once a week or more often), or on four or more days in a thirty day period, or overnight

Or

Day to day management or supervision on a regular basis of a person providing this activity which would be regulated if unsupervised

Some roles fall outside regulated activity and do not require a disclosure check. The remainder meet the requirements of the legislation and will require an appropriate level of disclosure check. Compass helps to automate this process: when an adult volunteer is assigned a role it will know what checks need to be processed. Renewal reminders will also be automated for those roles that require it.

Adult volunteers who work with vulnerable 18-25 year olds in Scouting need a disclosure that is checked against both the adult and child register. This can be arranged on that volunteer’s behalf by contacting vetting@scouts.org.uk.

When a new adult is entered onto the system there will be two options for disclosure checks. If the applicant does not have any identification documentation with them and they have an email address then they can be sent an email with a temporary username and password which allows them to log into the disclosures system and choose the identification documentation they have available which meets the minimum requirements. Once they have selected sufficient identification the system will inform them of this; they can then arrange a meeting with the person initiating the disclosure who will then check and verify the identification documents. The other option is to enter the details straight away if the applicant does have their identification documentation with them.

Safeguarding downloads

Carry the yellow card with you and make sure you follow its guidance on our safeguarding policy. You can download a copy of the card using the link below. Click on the links below for more resources.

Beat bullying

BeatBullying has partnered with The Scout Association on an exciting new anti-bullying initiative. As part of this, through an easy two-stage process, BeatBullying will train Section Leaders to become BeatBullying Champions, providing them with the tools and resources they need to keep their young people safe, and empower them to take positive action to help make bullying unacceptable. Read more »

Safe Scouting

Carry the purple card with you and make sure you follow its guidance in an emergency. You can download one from here.

You can also download copies of the Staying Safe checklists for Leaders, Managers and Executive Committees: